Markets Break Away From Morning Highs, Sensex, Nifty Close Nearly Flat
Notably, Indian equities opened on a strong note on Friday, lifted by optimism around the recent GST reforms and supportive signals from overseas markets.
Volatility weighed heavily over Indian markets on Friday. Following the pattern from the previous session, benchmarks Sensex and Nifty, pared their gains today also and ended trading in green. The BSE Sensex settled the session just above 80,700, slipping just 7 points, while the NSE Nifty50 closed under 24,750, inching up 6 points.
On the 30-share Sensex, M&M, Maruti, Reliance, PowerGrid, and Bharti Airtel settled among the gainers, while the laggards included ITC, HCL Tech, TCS, HUL, and Tech M.
In the broader markets, the Nifty Midcap Select closed 0.31 per cent higher. Sectorally, the Auto index dominated in green and ended 1.25 per cent higher. On the other hand, the IT index crashed 1.44 per cent.
Notably, Indian equities opened on a strong note on Friday, lifted by optimism around the recent GST reforms and supportive signals from overseas markets. The Sensex advanced 318.55 points to 81,036.56 in early trade, while the Nifty climbed 98.05 points to 24,832.35.
"Indian equities ended flat today, but sentiment stayed mildly positive as key indices rebounded from intra-day lows on buying at support levels. The auto sector continued to extend gains on expectations of a demand revival. Global cues also lent support, with US and Asian markets trading higher ahead of the US jobs report, a key trigger for Fed rate cut expectations," explained Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Limited.
GST Reforms Lift Sentiment
Market mood has been upbeat after the GST Council approved a sweeping overhaul of the tax structure on Wednesday. The Council decided to reduce the number of slabs to 5 per cent and 18 per cent, with effect from September 22, the first day of Navratri. The move is expected to make daily essentials — ranging from roti and paratha to personal care items such as hair oil, ice creams and even consumer durables like televisions — more affordable. In addition, the incidence of GST on personal health and life insurance has been brought down to nil, giving further relief to households.
On the flows front, provisional exchange data showed that Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) sold shares worth Rs 106.34 crore on Thursday, while Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) were net buyers to the tune of Rs 2,233.09 crore.
Inspite of the optimistic outlook around GST reforms and favourable domestic factors, equity markets are entering a consolidation phase owing to perisistent tariff worries and foreign outflows, experts pointed out.
On Thursday, domestic markets had also ended in the green, with the Sensex gaining 150.30 points, or 0.19 per cent, to close at 80,718.01, and the Nifty adding 19.25 points, or 0.08 per cent, to settle at 24,734.30.
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